Militant

Militant was a British Trotskyist entryist group which was founded in 1964 with the goal of infiltrating the Labour Party. Named for its Militant newspaper, the group - mostly based from Liverpool, London, and South Wales - had its roots in labour and trade union organizations in the Merseyside area. The group demanded that Prime Minister Harold Wilson carry out his promise to nationalize the steel industry, support nuclear disarmament, and end capitalism through a socialist transformation of society. In 1975, Militant's entryist tactics were publicized, but, from 1975 to 1980, Reg Underhill's attempts to expel the entryists were rejected by the National Executive Committee. In 1976, Militant won control of the Labour Party Young Socialists youth wing of the party, and, in 1982, the Liverpool Labour Party adopted Militant's strategy to set an illegal budget deficit, leading to the national party proscribing Militant; at that point, it had 4,300 members. Its policies dominated the Liverpool City Council from 1983 to 1987, and, in 1985, Labour leader Neil Kinnock denounced Militant at that year's party conference. In 1991, Militant overwhelmingly voted to end its strategy of entryism; during the 1992 general election, its two remaining Labour MPs were not renominated.